I just read a Forbes article “The Power of Not Being Positive” by Stephen Berglas. The article is about how to deal with failures. The article was about entrepreneurs, but the advice applies so much to students and young aspiring professionals that I think it is appropriate to develop the thoughts it contains.
The author’s point is clear and concise: if you are an entrepreneur, you are not sure that you will achieve success; this way, it will be easier to deal with failure when it occurs. But remember that very rigid thinking is even worse than that. Be flexible with your life plans, know that you will encounter barriers, and allow for plans B.
Like I said, this applies to ordinary entrepreneurs as well as undergraduate students. Both those students who do not know what to do in life, testing their possibilities with different careers and internships, and those quite sure of what they want to do after university. This is because no matter how good you are and how safe you are, failures will happen to you sooner or later.
Let me develop the thoughts from the article on 3 simple principles for students:
1) Don’t focus your career on one goal. Try to imagine yourself in various professions and organizations. If you really know that you would like to work for, say, an NGO, try exploring foreign service, consulting, politics, etc. Life is full of illusions – try to see more than meets the eye by talking to people, reading, and asking questions. Consequently, don’t make your university studies too specialized, make sure you have a couple of options open after you graduate.
2) Remember that life is complicated, but that benefits us: with cunning and creativity you can find a way out of almost all problems. In other words: the complexity of life means that nothing is predetermined by external circumstances and much remains in your hands. So stop getting angry when something is too difficult and complex, welcome it as an opportunity: everything is in your hands and sooner or later you will find a solution since complexity makes the set of solutions very large. Start to analyze it, think creatively and remember the next point …
3) I wrote the word “failure” many times, but real failures are very rare and it all depends on your perspective. Acknowledge failures, think about what went wrong, take lessons (you can write them down in a special notebook or on your fancy paper PDA), and move on. Spending too much time on failures is counterproductive. Just call them “bugs”!
Yes, everything is quite obvious, but I know people who do not think in those terms; I was one of them when I started my university.
